''Magic Windows'' is the thirty-second album by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...

, released on September 29, 1981 on

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

. This album continues his collaboration with associate producer Jeffrey Cohen, who co-wrote four of the tracks on the album. Additionally, the track "Satisfied with Love" was co-written by his sister, Jean Hancock. Musicians involved in this album include guitarists

Wah-Wah Watson Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. Career A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvin ...

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film ''Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 hi ...

and

Adrian Belew Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to ...

, vocalist Sylvester and percussionists Sheila E. and Paulinho da Costa.

Track listing

#"Magic Number" (

David Rubinson David Rubinson (born August 7, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York)Internet Movie DatabaseMini-Biography of David Rubinson Retrieved 2012-06-05.as of 2017 it's 1962? is an American recording engineer and music producer, who was particularly involved in music ...

, Hancock, Jeffrey Cohen) – 7:24 #"Tonight's the Night" (Hancock, Jeffrey Cohen,

) – 6:31 #"Everybody's Broke" (

Alphonse Mouzon Alphonse Lee Mouzon (November 21, 1948 – December 25, 2016) was an American jazz fusion drummer and the owner of Tenacious Records, a label that primarily released Mouzon's recordings. He was a composer, arranger, producer, and actor. He g ...

, Gavin Christopher, Hancock, Jeffrey Cohen) – 7:11 #"Help Yourself" (David Rubinson, Gavin Christopher, Hancock, Jeffrey Cohen) – 6:43 #"Satisfied with Love" (Hancock, Jean Hancock) – 6:31 #"The Twilight Clone" (

, Hancock) – 8:19 #"Magic Number" (Disco Version) (David Rubinson, Hancock, Jeffrey Cohen) - 9:30

Synthesisers

Amongst the other

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

s employed on this album, an Alpha Syntauri (enhanced

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

computer) was used for some of the tracks. Liner-notes on the CD version, from "Jazz Originals Series", say "There are no strings, or other orchestral instruments on this album. All of these orchestrations are performed by Herbie Hancock on various synthesizers."

Personnel

*Herbie Hancock - E-mu Polyphonic keyboard,

E-mu Emulator The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy disk storage, manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Though not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was among the first to find wide use among ordinary mu ...

, clavitar,

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

Prophet 5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with full ...

Oberheim 8 Voice The Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer is a range of analog music synthesizers that was produced from 1975 to 1979 by Oberheim Electronics. It was developed by Tom Oberheim, and was the first production synthesizer capable of playing chords. Spe ...

Yamaha CS-80 The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice set ...

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "per ...

ARP 2600 The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Allen R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 ...

Hohner clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

, Rhodes 88 Suitcase piano,

Sennheiser Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (, ) is a German privately held audio company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of high fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephone accessories and aviation headse ...

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American e ...

drum computer, modified

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mold ...

plus microcomputer, acoustic piano, bass (2), backing vocals (3) *

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of ...

- tenor saxophone (2, 4) *

(1-2), George Johnson (3, 6),

Al McKay AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

(4),

(5),

(6) - guitar * Freddie Washington (1, 5), Louis Johnson (3, 6), Ed Watkins (4) - bass *

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist *John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' *John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *John ...

(1, 3), Ray Parker Jr. (2),

James Gadson James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...

(4),

(5) - drums *Kwasi Dzidzornu, Kwawu Ladzekpo, Moody Perry III - bells, Ghanaian drums (6) *Juan Escovedo,

Pete Escovedo Peter Michael Escovedo (born July 13, 1935 in Pittsburg, California) is an American percussionist. "Pete Escovedo Biography & Awards"/ref> With his two brothers, Pete formed Escovedo Bros Latin Jazz Sextet, before Carlos Santana hired Pete and C ...

, Sheila Escovedo (1), Paulinho da Costa (6) - percussion * Sylvester (1),

Vicki Randle Vicki Randle (born December 11, 1954)Hillgirlz, the les ...

(2), Gavin Christopher (3-5) - lead vocals *Jeanie Tracy (1), Dede Dickerson, Ngoh Spencer and Vicki Randle (2-4), David Bottom and Jeffrey Cohen (3), Julia, Luther, Maxine and

Oren Waters Oren Waters is an American vocalist best known for his work with the backup singing group The Waters, his siblings: Luther, Maxine and Julia. As an ensemble, Waters has been a part of 260 gold and over 100 platinum albums with artists ranging fro ...

(5) - backing vocals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magic Windows (album) 1981 albums Columbia Records albums Herbie Hancock albums Albums produced by Dave Rubinson

Track listing

Synthesisers

Personnel

See also

References